Early 90’s Marshall 1960V cabs VS new production?

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NineShallDie

NineShallDie

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I borrowed a friend’s Marshall 1960AV from early 90’s and it sounds really really good. How does the new production ones compare to the early 90’s ones?

I have a JCM 800 1960A cab from ‘84 with the first version of the G12T-75 with the vented magnet. They sound way better and different to the current version. Is it the same with the G12 Vintage speakers?

From what I can understand Mesa and Marshall V30’s are still made in the UK, correct?
 
I have two 1960AVs: one from '96 and one from '20. The speakers are obviously different. The cones on them are clearly different.

They both sound good, and it's hard to tell whether the differences are speaker construction or an extra 14 years of play through. The '96 cab is much warmer and has a lot more thump. The '20 cab has more chime and air on the top end; more open.

I like both and could use either. The ideal cab IMHO would have the low end of the '96 cab and the top end of the '20 cab.
 
I think there are maybe 3 versions of these…2 without a doubt. I recently picked up an 88 JCM 800 half stack…2205 and a 1960 AV. Although, this early Marshall Vintage cab is marked as a JCM 800 only..no V anywhere. This cab is rated at 270w and is loaded with 8 ohm Marshall vintages; they do not have the high treble ‘spike’ of the newer versions. Very fat, warm cab that resembles a G12 65 cab more than it does a V30 cab. It sounds great with any of my Marshalls; very different from any other V30 + Marshall where I don’t care for that combo. I’ve also had early 90s AV cabs and they are brighter but not overwhelming bright like the newer cabs with the Marshall Vintage. Although this could be due to use…but those 8 ohm first version Marshall Vintages are far different imo than what’s made today.
 
Interesting, thanks for the input! ?? The ideal would be to find a used 90’s BV cab, but the used market on cabs aren’t too happening in Sweden. Luckily new Marshall cabs aren’t too expensive in Europe.
 
NineShallDie said:
Interesting, thanks for the input! ?? The ideal would be to find a used 90’s BV cab, but the used market on cabs aren’t too happening in Sweden. Luckily new Marshall cabs aren’t too expensive in Europe.
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You can score the earlier 8 ohm versions in a vintage Jubilee cab; they came mostly with T75s but some had the AV/BV designation
 
The new BV is a great cab. Not worth the headache of a quest to find another cab.
 
cardinal said:
The new BV is a great cab. Not worth the headache of a quest to find another cab.
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I think out of all the cabs Marshall ever made, not including pre 69 cabs, these early Marshall Vintage cabs from the 80s are among the rarest. I owned 1 Jubilee cab with them, and now this 1988 cab…I’ve maybe seen 3-4 others in 15 yrs of stalking used gear lol.
Buying new is probably best ?
 
I’ve been scouring the earth for early 90s BV cabs, namely those from around the black album era, but I very rarely if ever have seen one for sale. I’ve seen a few 92, and I have 2 Marshall vintage speakers from 95 that I need to wire up and throw in one of my Marshall cabs, but that’s it. The late 80s jubilee cabs wjth 8ohm Marshall vintage I’ve seen as well, and even bought one here locally for a friend. They are all alittle different, but phenomenal no doubt! The new ones sound fantastic I agree with the above: don’t fall in the rat trap, just accept they will all be slightly different, even cabs made in the same year, and as we all know, even in the same cab.
 
I always thought most of the 90’s Vintage cabs had English 6402 coned greenbacks no??

Rx?!
 
SQUAREHEAD said:
I always thought most of the 90’s Vintage cabs had English 6402 coned greenbacks no??

Rx?!
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The X and C cabs had the G12M. The V cabs have the G12V (Marshall label V30s). They stopped with the C cabs in the early 2000s (same as the X, just with black grill cloth).

The 6402 G12Ms lasted to around 2000ish and switched to 53/1777 cones. Some people say those come from the same tool and are the same thing as the 6402 cone, just a new part number. I dunno.

All Vintage 30s changed over the years. In the mid '90s, they stopped the doping around the dust cap. Around the early 2000s, the cone ribs changed from thin to wide. Around the same time, the magnet diameter shrank. This is for all the types (Celestion, Marshall, Mesa; English or Chinese).
 
We had one of these newer av cabs come in…one of the worst sounding cabs Ive ever hooked up. Ear piercing to say the least. A friend has an older one witha dsl that sounds pretty good. Nothing like this one was…
 
Greazygeo said:
We had one of these newer av cabs come in…one of the worst sounding cabs Ive ever hooked up. Ear piercing to say the least. A friend has an older one witha dsl that sounds pretty good. Nothing like this one was…
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Super strange, they win almost every time with me ! Alot of modern producers are going back to Marshall lately as well, which I think is nice to see.
 
VESmedic said:
Super strange, they win almost every time with me ! Alot of modern producers are going back to Marshall lately as well, which I think is nice to see.
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Im not normally a v30 fan at all. A few years ago I picked up an old Mesa oversized 4-12, early 90’s I think. It sounds good, and records well. Very warm. This recent av cab was nothing like it, bright and piercing. Couldn’t unplug it fast enough.
 
Racerxrated said:
I think out of all the cabs Marshall ever made, not including pre 69 cabs, these early Marshall Vintage cabs from the 80s are among the rarest. I owned 1 Jubilee cab with them, and now this 1988 cab…I’ve maybe seen 3-4 others in 15 yrs of stalking used gear lol.
Buying new is probably best ?
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I see Naylor amp incoming . You order new ? And can I ask him much ?
 
Greazygeo said:
We had one of these newer av cabs come in…one of the worst sounding cabs Ive ever hooked up. Ear piercing to say the least. A friend has an older one witha dsl that sounds pretty good. Nothing like this one was…
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FWIW when I got my 2020 AV (brand new), it did sound pretty awful. I ran a speaker burn in track through the cab for about 20 hours and it helped big time and some loud playing for a bit seemed to get it the rest of the way. Speaker break in is a real thing IME.
 
Greazygeo said:
We had one of these newer av cabs come in…one of the worst sounding cabs Ive ever hooked up. Ear piercing to say the least. A friend has an older one witha dsl that sounds pretty good. Nothing like this one was…
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The newer Marshall Vintages, 16 ohm versions (not sure if they even make the 8 ohm anymore?) have a super extended high end….I’ve heard them described as ‘crispy’ ….and that’s not far off. I dial most Marshalls high end with presence first, to get that bite I like…can’t do that with the recent Vintages or it’ll rip your face off. By contrast my 88 slant with the 8 ohm versions, I have my presence dimed and it sounds great. Very different speaker than the 90s or newer versions. More like a 65 than a V30.
 
Racerxrated said:
The newer Marshall Vintages, 16 ohm versions (not sure if they even make the 8 ohm anymore?) have a super extended high end….I’ve heard them described as ‘crispy’ ….and that’s not far off. I dial most Marshalls high end with presence first, to get that bite I like…can’t do that with the recent Vintages or it’ll rip your face off. By contrast my 88 slant with the 8 ohm versions, I have my presence dimed and it sounds great. Very different speaker than the 90s or newer versions. More like a 65 than a V30.
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Agreed. The biggest difference with the Marshall cabs vs boogie is just where I low pass. Mesas, generally at 12k, sometimes it’s not even needed. While with the Marshalls, I’ll drop it down to 10k or so because they definitely have more information in that area. They also have much more low end than mesas in my experience.
 
Also yes I believe they still make the 8 ohm vintages. I believe this is what they put in their 2x12 cabs and/or the JVM combos, Atleast one of the speakers is an 8ohm in the combo anyways.
 
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